A  Hakka  Boat,  China 


Xts  RcsponsibiUty  and  Cilork 

By  ELLA  D.  MacLAURIN 


Young  People’s  Department 

Bmedcan  JBaptist  /Iftlesionarp  TUnton 

BOSTON 


-p 

I  £3  vM  - 


LnpiLripJLririj[nrJinr^PTnJ^^^  j 

...THE...  [or:!)  teiKij  cjjI 


For  Young  People’s  Societies 


J^ouno  Ipeople’s  S^epartinent. 


..JUST  THE  FUEL  TO  MAKE  THE  FIRE  BURN.. 

Pray  Without  Ceasing.  Andrew  Murray.  5  cents. 

Prayer  Cycle.  5  cents.  Prayer  Calendar.  25  cents. 

Prayer  and  Missions.  Robert  E.  Speer.  5  cents. 

Money  and  the  Kingdom.  Dr.  Josiah  Strong.  3  cents. 
Biblical  Finance.  A  Business  Man.  3  cents. 

The  Resources  of  the  Kingdom.  A  Business  Man.  3  cents. 
A  Brief  for  Foreign  Missions.  Rev.  Henry  Vandyke,  D.D. 
5  cents. 

Have  Your  Own  Missionary,  scents. 

A  Missionary  Meeting:  What  it  is,  and  How  to  Conduct 
it.  s  cents. 

The  Missionary  Committee  :  Its  Responsibility  and  Work. 
5  cents. 

Where  Does  the  Money  Go  ?  Rev.  Henry  C.  Mabie,  D.D. 
3  cents. 

Leakage  in  Beneficence.  Rev.  Albert  Waffle  D.D.  3  cents. 
The  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union.  Dr.  Duncan. 
3  cents. 

Motives  Instead  -of  Enticements  in  Giving.  Rev.  Lemuel 
C.  Barnes.  2  cents. 

Are  the  Heathen  in  a  Perishing  Condition  1  Rev.  E.  A. 
Stevens,  D.D.  2  cents. 

A  Plea  for  China.  Rev.  William  Ashmore,  D.D.  5  cents. 
Special  Dispatches  to  the  Churches  from  the  Mission¬ 
aries  at  the  Front.  2  cents. 

Missionary  Magazine,  ^.i. 00  per  year. 

Kingdom.  Twenty  copies  each  month  for  ^i.oo. 


'  — FREE 

Globe  Circular. 

Dr.  A.  J.  Gordon’s  Last  Letter  to  His  Church. 
God’s  Tenth.  Rev.  A.  J.  Gordon. 

Missionary  Committee  Policy. 

Pledge  Cards  and  Envelopes. 

Globe  Boxes  for  Young  People  and  Sunday-schools. 


The  Committee  on  Missions  : 


Its  Responsibility  and  Work. 


HE  object  of  missions  is  the  spread  of 


1  tlie  knowledge  of  Christ  at  home  and 
abroad.  The  very  last  words  of  our 
Lord  on  earth,  his  parting  request  to  his 
church  gathered  on  Olivet’s  crown,  are: 
“Ye  shall  receive  power  after  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  come  upon  you,  and  ye  shall  be  wit¬ 
nesses  unto  me,  both  in  Jerusalem  and  in  all 
Judosa  and  Samaria  and  unto  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth.” 

Christ  gave  Missions  the  Throne  in 


Church  Work. 


“Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God,”  and 
“  I  must  preach  the  kingdom  of  God  in  other 
cities  also.”  Not  the  “I  must”  of  uncontrol¬ 
lable  circumstances,  but  the  “  I  must  ”  of  a 
moral  obligation,  of  a  holy  enterprise,  of  a 
sacred  enthusiasm,  of  a  self-sacrificing  love 
for  souls.  We  do  thank  God  for  that  word 
“also.”  It  is  the  golden  link  that  binds  every 
part  of  the  globe  to  the  heart  of  Christ  and 
his  church.  The  field  is  —  the  world.  The 


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gospel  —  the  message.  Every  disciple  —  the 
messenger.  With  this  definition  of  missions 
— its  scope,  its  message,  and  its  messengers 
—  we  will  consider  the  responsibility  and 
work  of  the  committee.  A  word  just  here 
to  presidents  of  Young  People’s  Societies:  Let 
me  write  it  in  letters  of  fire  upon  every 
heart,  that  there  is  no  committee  that  is  so 
important  as  the  Committee  on  Missions,  or 
one  that  needs  to  be  selected  with  greater 
care,  for  their  faithfulness  will  give  or  with¬ 
hold  the  Light  from  thousands.  The  Young 
People’s  movement  is  a  missionary  movement, 
just  as  much  as  the  volunteer  movement  is  a 
missionary  movement— “  Relying  upon  Divine 
help,  I  hereby  promise  to  be  true  to  Christ  in 
all  things.”  Missions  then  are  its  soul  and 
life.  Missions  are  our  distinguishing  badges 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Therefore 
you  will  see  that  the  missionary  committee  is 
transcendently  the  most  important.  Appoint 
this  committee  first  and  put  your  very  best, 
your  brightest  and  most  devoted  members  on 
this  committee.  Will  you  do  this  ? 

1.  — ITS  PURPOSE. 

One  has  well  said  that  “purpose  is  the  eter¬ 
nal  element  of  success.”  Half  of  the  failure  in 
mission  work  is  traceable  to  the  lack  of  pur¬ 
pose.  A  purposeless  life  is  like  a  vessel  in  mid- 

4 


ocean  without  an  anchor.  There  was  a  mighty 
purpose  in  the  life  of  the  first  great  Missionary. 
“  The  Son  of  Man  hath  come  to  seek  and  to 
save  that  which  was  lost.”  “  He  came  not  to 
be  ministered  unto  but  to  minister.”  In  the 
light  of  his  life,  O  missionary  committee,  what 
is  your  purpose  ?  The  Book  of  Life  is  the 
completed  edition  of  the  book  of  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles.  It  is  the  story  of  the  world  won 
to  Christ.  The  story  of  your  life  and  mine  is  be¬ 
ing  penned  by  the  fingers  of  God.  God  is  now 
writing  an  everlasting  story  of  the  faithful  and 
unfaithful  stewards.  Thou,  O  chairman  of  the 
missionary  committee,  art  a  character  in  that 
story  !  Which  character  is  it  ?  Eternal  des¬ 
tinies  play  upon  its  pages  and  the  crown  of 
immortality  awaits  its  true  heroes.  Oh,  mis¬ 
sionary  committee,  step  into  thy  closet  and 
pray  —  pray — pray  until  you  get  God’s  thought 
concerning  missions! 

With  this  preparation  your  purpose  will  be  to 
awaken  an  intelligent  missionary  enthusiasm 
in  every  member  of  the  society,  an  earnest, 
prayerful  determination  either  to  go  or  send 
the  news  of  redemption  to  lost  humanity  at 
home  and  abroad,  in  city  and  jungle. 

2.  — ORGANIZATION. 

An  efficient  missionary  committee  is  one  in 
which  each  member  is  responsible  for  some 


definite  work.  How  can  we.  have  such  a 
committee  ?  By  having  a  thorough,  practical, 
business-like  organization.  At  the  first  meet¬ 
ing  make  each  member  responsible  for  some 
definite  work.  Appoint : 

(i.)  A  Secretary  who  shall  keep  a  record  of 
all  the  committee  meetings,  of  work  done, 
difficulties  met  and  overcome,  etc.,  etc. 

(2.)  A  Treasurer  who  will  see  to  securing 
systematic  and  proportionate  giving ;  have 
charge  of  pledge  cards,  envelopes  and  boxes  ; 
secure  veritable  members  of  “The  Tenth  Le¬ 
gion  ”  —  and  who  will  act  as  a  link  also  between 
the  society  and  its  missionary  boards.  Half  of 
our  young  people  do  not  even  know  the  name 
and  address  of  the  treasurers  of  our  mission  , 
boards. 

(3.)  A  member  on  meetings  who,  with  an¬ 
other  member  of  the  society  (the  leader  of  the 
meetings  for  that  month)  will  arrange  and  be 
responsible  for  the  missionary  programme. 

(4.)  A  member  on  missionary  literature  who 

will  send  to  our  boards  for  the  bright,  wide¬ 
awake,  pithy  leaflets,  missionary  papers  and 
magazines.  Then  every  society  should  have 
a  missionary  library.  Let  your  motto  be ; 
Quality  not  quantity.  Better  a  big  shelf  with 
one  thrilling  missionary  book  in  great  demand 
than  a  great  number  of  volumes  that  will  not 

G 


be  read.  Strike  for  a  good,  live  missionary 
library.  (See  page  15.) 

(5.)  A  correspondent  who  will  keep  in  touch 
with  the  missionaries  on  the  fields,  at  home 
and  abroad ;  who  will  induce  others  to  write 
bright  cheery  letters,  and  who  will  watch  with 
eagle  eye  the  reports  in  the  denominational 
papers  and  the  missionary  magazines  that 
come  from  the  different  fields. 

3.— THE  MONTHLY  COMMITTEE 
MEETING. 

You  will  certainly  devote  a  regular  evening 
in  each  month  to  this  purpose,  having  extra 
meetings  at  the  call  of  the  chairman.  Don’t 
visit  in  this  meeting ;  remember  whom  you 
represent  and  attend  strictly  to  the  Kind’s  busi¬ 
ness.  Open  the  meeting  with  an  earnest  sea¬ 
son  of  prayer,  every  member  takin^g  part;  for  the 
best  of  plans  will  fail  unless  conceived  in  his 
wisdom,  guided  by  his  love  and  carried  out  in 
his  strength.  With  the  changeless  reality  of 
his  presence,  as  the  most  interested  member 
of  that  committee,  proceed  in  the  most  prac¬ 
tical  way  while  doing  the  Lord’s  business,  and 
not  in  the  slipshod  manner  with  which  we  are 
too  often  content.  Ask  the  secretary  to  read 
the  minutej  of  the  last  meeting ;  then  let  each 
member  report  his  or  her  definite  work  for  the 
past  month.  Let  there  be  free  discussion  and 

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definite  action,  giving  each  member  whatever 
help  seems  necessary.  Of  course  the  mission¬ 
ary  meeting  will  receive  special  attention,  each 
member  gladly  doing  all  in  his  power  to  help 
the  member  in  charge  in  making  it  the 

“Zone”  of  Power  it  ou^ht  to  be. 

This  plan  is  worth  trying,  as  it  is  invaluable 
in  attracting  and  ‘holding  young  men  and 
women  of  thoughtful  minds.  The  business¬ 
like  way  of  doing  things  appeals  to  their 
higher  and  nobler  sense  of  manhood.  The 
one  reason  why  our  meetings  are  shunned  by 
many  is  because  of  the  namby-pamby,  wishy- 
washy,  linsey-woolsey  way  we  do  our  work. 
Oh,  for  a  committee  full  of  faith,  dead  in  ear¬ 
nest,  constantly  alive,  always-at-it,  never-give- 
up,  bound-to-win,  patient,  loving,  having  a 
mighty  faith  in  the  perseverance  of  the  saints  ! 
Will  you  be  that  committee  ? 

Don’t  change  the  missionary  committee  every  six 
months,  and  never  change  more  than  half  of  them 
at  a  time. 

4. —THE  MISSIONARY  MEETING. 

A  missionary  meeting,  a  real  missionary 
meeting  that  shall  be  wideaw'ake,  pithy,  inter¬ 
esting  and  educational  every  month,  will  be 
the  purpose  of  the  efficient  committee.  The 

true  reason  for  indifference  to  missionary  work 

8 


is  not  lack  of  willingness,  but  lack  of  knowl¬ 
edge.  Our  young  people  only  need  to  know, 
and-  their  interest  is  at  once  aroused.  Oh, 
how  many  have  said  to  me,  ‘‘  I  never  realized 
before  that  the  great  commission  had  anything 
to  do  with  me  directly  and  personally !  ” 

If  our  young  people  are  to  give  their  pray¬ 
ers,  the^r  time,  their  money  and  their  lives  to 
this  work,  they  must  be  educated,  they  must 
know  about  it.  This  great  responsibility  is 
placed  upon  the  committee  on  missions,  and 
their  chief  aid  is  the  Missionary  Meeting. 
The  preparation  of  the  program  should  be 
most  thorough  and  complete.  Let  the  leadet 
of  the  meeting,  with  the  member  of  the  com¬ 
mittee,  be  responsible  for  the  program, —  a 
new  leader  for  each  meeting.  These  two  may 
call  on  every  member  of  the  society  to  aid  in 
its  execution.  I  do  believe  in  giving  every¬ 
body  something  to  do.  Allow  no  public  use 
of  scissorings  from  papers,  or  nice  little  bits 
given  out  to  be  read. 

Plan  for  Independent  Thought. 

• 

Give  facts  in  your  own  way.  Suppose  you 
have  fifteen  two-minute  guns,  or  two  bright, 
brief,  boiled  down,  condensed,  real  live  papers, 
after  which  throw  the  meeting  open  for  general 
participation.  This  can  be  made  exceedingly 
interesting  and  very  helpful.  Be  sure  and 

9 


attend  carefully  to  details, —  maps  (See  The 
Missionary  Meeting,  page  lo.),  music,  organist, 
ushers. 

Appoint  Two  to  Act  as  Ushers. 

They  can  see  that  the  room  is  well  ventilated 
and  everything  nicely  arranged.  How  many 
times  have  I  gone  into  Young  People’s  meet¬ 
ings  to  find  the  reply  of  Father  Abraham  to 
the  request  of  the  rich  man  so  true  :  “  Between 
me  and  thee  there  is  a  great  gulf  fixed.”  Many 
young  people  who  will  scramble  for  the  front 
seats  in  the  consecration  meeting  at  our  great 
Conventions,  can  be  found  in  the  back  seats  in 
their  home  churches.  Ushers,  bridge  this 
gulf.  Young  people,  take  the  front  seats  ;  the 
backsliders  will  fill  the  back  ones. 

Systematic,  Proportionate,  Worshipful,  Heroic, 
Hilarious  and  l^e^ular  Giving. 

It  is  often  said,  and  truly,  that  when  our 
members  become  interested  they  will  give ; 
but  many  become  interested  in  certain  ob¬ 
jects  more  than  in.  Christ,  and  to  a  large 
measure  give  spasmodically  and  from  im- 
pluse.  God  wants  us  to  give  regularly  and 
from  principle,  ever  remembering  that  it  is 
into  the  outstretched  hand  of  the  world’s 
Savior  we  are  to  place  our  gifts.  The  basis 

of  all  true  giving  is  a  realization  of  the  prin- 

10 


ciple  of  stewardship.  For  the  teaching  of  this 
principle,  see  Gen.  2  :  15  —  God  put  man  in 
the  garden  to  dress  it  and  keep  it.  Hag.  2  :  8 
—  Silver  and  gold  are  mine.  Luke  16:  12  — 
Faithfulness  in  that  which  is  another’s.  Three 
scriptural  methods : 

(1.)  Systematic  giving  as  shown  in  tithing 
or  giving  a  regular  part  of  our  income  at  a 
regular  time  (first  day  of  the  week,  i  Cor.. 
16  :  2).  Why.?  (a)  Because  we  are  creatures 
of  habit ;  (/;)  because  it  is  worship ;  (c)  it  is 
most  successful,  and  (^/)  because  God  com¬ 
mands  it. 

(2.)  Proportionate  giving  or  according  to 
some  fixed  ratio;  (a)  tithing  (Gen.  28;  22; 
Mai.  3 :  8—10);  (/;)  as  one  is  able  (i  Cor.  16 :  2). 

(3.)  With  Sacrifice.'  Eph.  5:  12:  Christ 
gave  himself  for  us,  an  offering  and  a  sacrifice 
to  God.  “  Let  this  mind  be  in  you  which  was 
also  in  Christ  Jesus  ”  (2  Cor.  8  :  1-9).  “  For 

ye  know  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
that,  though  he  was  rich,  yet  for  your  sakes 
he  became  poor,  that  ye  through  his  poverty 
might  become  rich.” 

With  this  sense  of  stewardship,  work — work 
■ — work — until  every  member  in  your  society 
realizes  his  responsibility  as  God’s  steward. 
What  we  want  and  what  we  are  going  to 
have  is  a  great  army  pledged  to  systematic, 

proportionate,  worshipful,  heroic,  hilarious  giving. 

11 


Pledged  intelligently,  because  we  realize  that 
the  Bible  teaches  it,  and  that  our  duty  as 
Christians  demands  it ;  pledged  prayerfully, 
because  of  the  tremendous  responsibility  with 
which  He  has  charged  us  in  making  us  stew¬ 
ards —  the  destiny  of  a  lost  world  !  Pledged 
joyfully,  because  of  the  glorious  privilege  of 
helping  Christ  to  see  of  the  travail  of  his 
soul  and  be  satisfied.” 

O  awful  joy  !  O  honor  high  ! 

To  help  Christ’s  soul  to  satisfy. 

Believing  thoroughly  in  this  principle  of 
stewardship,  the  faithful  committee  will  scat¬ 
ter  leaflets  on  the  subject,  and  ask  their  pastor 
to  preach  upon  it  and  in  the  society  meetings 
present  it  on  a  scriptural  basis,  from  personal 
experience,  inviting  free  discussion,  and  best 
of  all,  follow  it  up  by  patient,  prayerful  per¬ 
sonal  work. 

A  Mighty  Faith  in  the  Power  of  Prayer. 

It  can  divide  every  Red  Sea  and  cause  every 
Jordan  to  roll  back.  Since  the  Day  of  Pente¬ 
cost  every  time  the  Church  of  Christ  has  set 
herself  to  praying  marvelous  results  have  fol¬ 
lowed.  When  the  heathen  world  had  its  doors 
closed  and  barred  against  the  gospel,  the 
Church  of  God  got  down  upon  her  knees  and 
in  one  year  the  Lord  threw  open  the  doors  of 

China,  India,  Japan,  Italy  and  Mexico;  and 

12 


at  the  same  time  opened  the  hearts  of  twenty 
men  to  give  more  than  four  million  dollars 
('$4,000,000)  to  carry  the  tidings  of  life  through 
those  open  doors. 

When  Messengers  Were  Not  Forthcoming 

to  carry  the  message,  the  Church  heard  and 
heeded  the  voice  of  her  great  Commander 
saying,  “  Pray  ye,  therefore,  the  Lord  of  the 
harvest  that  he  send  forth  laborers  into  his 
harvest,”  and  now  there  are  in  America  four 
thousand  of  the  choicest  spirits  of  our  land 
desiring  to  go  to  the  destitute  everywhere. 

In  1839  the  Sultan  of  'Turkey  passed  a 
decree  that  not  a  representative  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  religion  should  remain  in  the  empire. 
Dr.  Goodell  came  to  the  house  of  Dr.  Hamlin 
with  the  sad  news,  saying,  “  Doctor,  it  is  all 
.  over  with  us  ;  we  have  to  leave  ;  the  American 
Consul  and  the  British  Ambassador  both  sav 
that  it  is  no  use  to  meet  with  antagonism  this 
violent  and  vindictive  monarch.”  The  reply 
of  that  noble  missionary  of  the  cross.  Dr. 
Hamlin,  was:  “The  Sultan  of  the  Universe 
can,  in  answer  to  prayer,  change  the  decree 
of  the  Sultan  of  Turkey.”  They  gave  them¬ 
selves  to  prayer  and  the  next  day  the  Sultan 
died,  and  the  decree  has  never  been  executed. 
God  help  us  to  learn  the  secret  of  the  power 
of  prayer.  “As  Thou  hast  sent  me  into  the 

13 


world,  even  so  have  I  sent  them  into  the 
world.”  He  went  to  the  hungry  of  the  desert, 
to  the  dews  of  the  night,  to  the  storms  of  the 
lake,  to  the  refuge  of  the  mountains,  to  the 
rock-strewn  road,  to  the  persecutions  of  men, 
to  the  blood-sweat  of  Gethsemane,  to  the  cross- 
crowned  Calvary. 

And  a  World  [Redeemed. 

He  that  taketh  not  up  his  cross  and  fol¬ 
io  weth  not  after  me  cannot  be  my  disciple.” 
His  book  was  the  scriptures,  his  illustrations 
were  a  life,  his  magazine  was  the  hearts  of 
people,  on  which  he  stamped  the  impress  of 
his  divine  calling.  His  joy  is  sitting  upon  the 
throne,  while  before  him  they  come,  a  multi¬ 
tude  which  no  man  can  number,  out  of  all 
nations  and  kindreds  and  people  and  tongues, 
crying  with  a  loud  voice,  saying:  “Blessings 
and  glory  and  wisdom  and  thanksgiving  and 
honor  and  power  and  might  be  unto  our  God 
forever  and  ever.  Amen.” 


See  accompanying  booklet,  “  A  Missionary 
Meeting ;  What  it  is,  and  How  to  Conduct  it.” 


14 


-Read  Carefully. 


IWIISSIONARY  INTEREST,  if  it  shall  abide,  must 
be  intelligent  interest. 

The  library  to  be  of  real  value  must  contain  books, 
interesting,  instructive,  devotional,  and  books  giving  a 
careful  survey  of  people,  countries,  religions  and  a  his¬ 
tory  of  successful  Missionary  enterprise. 

The  Student  Missionary  Campaign  Library  does  all 
this  and  more.  It  contains  lectures,  biography,  conven¬ 
tion  reports,  history,  and  in  fact  everything  to  instruct 
and  interest  young  people  in  the  cause  of  the  world’s 
evangelization. 

The  library  has  been  carefully  selected  by  a  com¬ 
mittee  of  prominent  educators,  who  are  especially  well 
informed  as  to  Missioiib. 

It  contains  sixteen  of  the  very  best  Modern  Mis¬ 
sionary  books. 

It  will  be  uniform  in  size  and  binding. 

It  lists  at  twenty  dollars,  but  a  benevolent  business 
man  bought  the  sheets  from  the  publishers  and  by 
having  the  books  bound  himself  has  made  it  possibie 
for  us  to  furnish  them  for  the  remarkably  low  price  of 
ten  dollars.  Orders  should  be  sent  to  Miss  -Ella  D. 
MacLaurin,  Tremont  Temple,  Boston,  Mass.,  and  in 
order,  to  secure  the  library  at  .the  above  price  it  should 
be  ordered  now. 

The  library  must  be  sold  entire,  and  in  no  case  will 
the  set  be  broken. 

Money  must  accompany  every  order,  and  must 
be  sent  by  Money  Order,  Registered  Letter  or  Draft  on 
New  York  or  Boston,  and  must  be  made  payable  to 

ELLA  D.  MACLAURIN 

TREMONT  TEMPLE,  BOSTON 


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